Mama Raccoon

As I already mentioned in a previous post, we have a raccoon nest high up in a tree next to our house and I take a peek to see what mama raccoon is up to as often as I can. Yesterday, I didn't see her all day. But this morning she was active and posed for my camera.

After being outside the nest for a while, she went back in head first.

She turned around on the inside and for a while all I could see was her ear.

And then she stuck her head out and looked left...

and right...

and got ready to leave once again.

She always stays close, but it looks like she needs a break from the babies once in a while. Especially as the temperatures heat up, it must get quite warm in the nest.

We've lived here for 11 years and see raccoons almost every day and we've never had an issue with them, which we are very grateful for. Can't wait to catch a glimpse of the babies!

❧ Silke

Around the Garden

This is such an exciting time of the year because so much is happening in our garden every day! And the weather is still cool enough, which means I spend a good bit of time outside looking at everything. Later in the summer I basically hide in the air conditioning...

Last year, we planted a quince tree. It was just a stick, really, that then grew branches and leaves. This year, we had a few flowers and it looks like we are getting two quinces to grow, which is probably enough for the tree as it grows and gets established.

The oleander is blooming already and will hopefully continue to do so throughout the summer.

It's such a beautiful splash of color!

A few days ago, our jasmine started blooming and because it's cool enough to have the windows open, we can even smell its wonderful fragrance inside the house.  

While our "normal" hydrangeas aren't blooming yet, one of our oak leaf hydrangeas is sporting gorgeous flowers. The other two are in a different part of our yard and were really affected by the hurricane winds last fall. While they are growing and leafing out, they don't have flowers this year. We are happy they survived the storm!

Every year, Daniel plants a good number of annuals in pots which we have around our back porch and patios. One of my favorites this year is this impatiens with the filled flowers. They look like little roses.

Ahhhhh, the figs are growing! Our tree is loaded and I need to start collecting recipes! I'm sure we'll be making lots of jam and chutney again.

Mama raccoon has been fun to watch. Most of the time, we just see her ears.

But sometimes she will look out and stretch. Can't wait for the babies to get bigger and start peeking out of their nest.

The other day, I looked up to see what the raccoon was doing and saw a green heron sitting nearby. We hear them all the time, but they are usually well camouflaged in the leafy branches.

Tomorrow we are expecting storms but the weekend promises to be gorgeous again. Maybe I'll take some more photos then...

Happy Thursday, everyone!!

❧ Silke

Garden Wildlife

Daniel and I have a fairly small garden, and yet we have a lot of animals visiting every day. Maybe because we have eight large trees in our backyard alone.

A couple of weeks ago, we discovered that a raccoon had made her nest in one of the trees in our neighbor's yard. I'm sitting outside as I type this and I can see her looking out just like in the photo below.

Before we discovered the nest, we found one of her babies (a newborn) at the foot of the tree. After waiting for some time to see if he'd get picked up, we took him in (it was fairly cold outside) and contacted a wildlife rehabber in our area who took him in. He was the cutest little thing and quite wiggly.

Here's a different raccoon trying to get comfy for a daily snooze.

We also get a lot of bird visitors and the woodpeckers are always a favorite of mine! The red bellied woodpeckers come to our feeders all the time and aren't shy at all. We love when they start bringing the babies around in the spring. Hopefully I'll get some good photos!  

The pileated woodpecker is one we hear often enough but rarely see. Usually they are high up in the tall trees. They are large and striking looking and when one comes close enough, I run for the camera!

Ok, so this isn't really wildlife, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of Ramses and Louie, the flat cats! It was a sunny afternoon and they both loved the warmth!

Winslow, of course, is the overseer of the garden and makes sure that everyone gets along.

I'm looking forward to the baby raccoons being old enough to peek out of the nest so I can snap a photo for you.

❧ Silke

Art and Nature

Last week, I didn't do a whole lot of painting. Daniel was out of town and I just took it easy. You'd think I'd be in my studio all the time, but I felt more inspired to read, knit, crochet and watch some movies.

I did finish this rather large painting which is going to my sister's when we visit this summer. It was quite a challenge for me and I love, love, love how it turned out! The colors and the feel of it.

The canvas below was moving in a direction I didn't like, so I gave it a layer of gesso for a new start, while keeping some of the previous layers peeking through. It'll add to the texture of the painting once it's finished. I have no clue yet where this is heading.

We've had some days of big rain (Tropical Storm Colin came right through here) and then much sunshine. Flowers are blooming in abundance and I love bringing some of them inside.

The other day, I was lucky enough to find a perfect snake skin in our back yard. Isn't it gorgeous? I am keeping it for nature decoration in our house. We have quite of bit of that - dead bugs, animal skulls we've found, sand dollars, etc. This will fit right in!

We are always on the lookout for interesting bugs and this spider fits the bill. It was tiny, but look at that color! Amazing!

And here is one of the fascinating Golden Silk Orb Weaver spiders. A couple of years back I blogged about a female I watched all through the summer (click here). Here is a new female and she's going to be fun to observe. Right now, she's only about an inch in length (including the legs), but by summer's end she'll be about 6 to 7 inches long, while the males are tiny! Fascinating creature!

And this last was a lucky shot while a swallowtail butterfly was busy drinking from our bougainvillea. Isn't it gorgeous? Actually the colors are inspiring a painting...

I'm linking to the ever wonderful Paint Party Friday and wish you all an amazing week!!

With love and gratitude,

❧ Silke

The Joys of this Morning

We are having a small summer miracle. After incredibly hot and humid days, which are normal for us in August, we woke up this morning to 71 degrees (21 Celsius) and hardly any humidity. I opened all the windows in the house and then spent the whole morning outside, first walking with Winslow, then on the back porch enjoying the cool breeze and then watering.

Look at that gorgeous bee I found while watering a friend's back yard! It was just stunning!!

And then on our milk week, I counted 30 fat monarch caterpillars. That is so exciting to me. Soon, they'll be able to cocoon and begin the transformation to beautiful butterflies.

It's a good day. I hope for you as well!!

❧ Silke

Giveaway Winner & Giant Spider

Thanks for all who entered my giveaway on my Facebook Page and here on my blog. I drew the winner the old-fashioned way.

I wrote down all the names, folded up the strips of paper, put them in one of my favorite bowls, and mixed them all up.

And the winner is Diane Salter, a fellow artist whose work I much admire! Fun!!

As a little extra, I'm sharing a video I made this morning of our big spider girl re-weaving part of the giant web. Don't watch it if spiders freak you out. :)

I'll be back soon with art and knitting and other things. In the meantime, enjoy your Friday and the coming weekend!!

❧ Silke

Garden Excitement and Giveaway

I've been looking every day for many days and I finally spied them:

Tiny monarch butterfly caterpillars. We plant the milkweed only for the monarch butterflies because that's where they like to lay there eggs and that's what their caterpillars like to eat. This is so exciting!!

Also exciting, but in a different way was the morning "our" giant spider caught a big moth. I felt so bad for the moth, but I'd feel just as bad if a bird ate this beautiful spider, which is getting bigger and bigger. She must be ready to lay her eggs soon...

All this butterfly/moth action inspired this painting, which is relatively small, but took a long time to come together. Finally, I detached from the outcome and just enjoyed the process and - voilà - it suddenly worked!

I decided to give it away and have a giveaway both here and on my Facebook Page. You just need to enter once - either leave a comment here or on Facebook. I'm keeping this really simple.

I'll draw the winner on Thursday, August 21 after 9 p.m. my time. Or thereabouts... :)

I hope you are having a fantastic start to your week. I'm hoping to get a good bit of painting done!

❧ Silke

Happy Moments in Time...

1. Tucker, one of the outdoor kitties who adopted us was sitting under the bird feeder this morning, hoping the fat squirrel would fall into this mouth. It didn't happen and Tucker went back to his post on our front porch surveying our garden and napping...

2. I tried to capture "our" spider's magnificent web in the morning sunshine.

It is huge and impressive! She is quite the accomplished weaver...

3. The cardigan I started last year and then forgot about is getting closer to being finished. I love mindless knitting projects like this. They clear my mind and sooth my soul! The pattern is one that is knitted in one piece starting at the collar, so easy and great for making the sleeves as long as they need to be. Any long-limbed reader of my blog will understand how hard it is to find any top with sleeves that are ever long enough...

4. One of my very best friends (we've known each other since Kindergarten), emailed me this photo of my sister and me in Holland on vacation eating ice cream, which I think was a daily occurrence. What a great photo!! By the way, that was the color of my hair a long time ago - dark brown, almost black. :) Although I think I already had a few silver hairs at that time in my life... And I had completely forgotten about those purple overalls. Loved them!!!

5. As I was making a cup of espresso yesterday, my phone notified me that my toad painting had sold. Best of all, a friend here bought it, which means I can see it whenever I want to. Good thing as I am a tad attached to this one... :)

6. A delicious white bean dip we've made a few times already this summer. Yum!! (Recipe here.)

7. A glass of red wine drunk from a clay wine cup handmade by a German potter who is in his 90s and bought together with my dad when I was visiting a couple of years ago.

Last weekend was somewhat difficult for us as Winslow, our sweet dog, had a fierce stomach bug on Sunday. We think it was triggered by nerves from two days and nights of loud thunderstorms sweeping over our house and making it shake frequently. Poor baby!

Monday morning, Daniel took him to the vets who said he was doing great overall and gave him some meds which helped his stomach immediately. By now he's back to his normal über-cute self!

When anyone in my world is sick, I get anxious. And when it's one of our pets, I get super anxious. One way to keep a hold on my inner happy place is to make special note of anything that makes me smile, big or small. And things like these certainly do the trick.

What do you do when your inner calm is threatened?

❧ Silke